Welcome to Jazzy Book Reviews. Here you will find my thoughts on books I've read in various genres, as well as blitzes, cover reveals, and tours.
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Saturday, May 21, 2016

It’s
not every day a girl gets to meet the most powerful man in the world –
but it’s not every girl that’s deemed USEFUL. I’ve been deemed USEFUL to
the heir apparent to the Roman Emperor!

My skin prickles with awareness of him.

His hips form a perfect V; his chest seems forged from iron.

I long to touch him.

I long to be possessed by him.

I long to lose all sense of Theodora and be lost in Justinian.

Crazy, impetuous, domineering Justinian. With each word he speaks, I drift deeper into the maelstrom of his mind.

They
tell me he has unusual tastes. They tell me I must surrender to him.
But as a former courtesan, it’s mostly been ME in charge. I’ve given
pleasure to many, secure in my own sensuality, except now THIS man, this
beautiful, fascinating man is pushing me… changing me… showing me the
bittersweet pleasure in pain.

But
when his true plans for me reveal themselves, and the darkness in
Justinian comes to the fore, he threatens my integrity… threatens my
very spirit.

Will his darkness swallow me whole?

I’m about to find out.

***

Veronica

I watch him watching us, imagining how he would take me.

I send him the message with my eyes.

This is who I am.

I am Veronica Franco.

I am a COURTESAN.

I court the cultural elite for fame and fortune, giving my body to many.

And I’m good. So very good. After all, I was taught by my mother, and mother always knows best.

How
else to please the future King of France than with the imaginative use
of Murano glass? How else to fulfill the desires of all yet keep my
sense of self-worth?

But when disaster strikes and my life begins to unravel, I’ll have to ask myself one question: